


I Don’t Want This to End

by xnostalgiax



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Denial, Denial of Feelings, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Lance (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, M/M, Minor Allura/Romelle (Voltron), Misunderstandings, Oblivious Lance (Voltron), Pining Keith (Voltron), they go to the mall and have FUN
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-19
Updated: 2019-10-19
Packaged: 2020-12-23 19:43:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21086777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xnostalgiax/pseuds/xnostalgiax
Summary: After Pidge shares information about Lance’s past crush on Allura, Romelle suspects that he is still in love with her. Which is a problem, because Allura and Romelle are dating. So, Lance being Lance, says that’s impossible because he has a boyfriend already. Boyfriend being Keith Kogane. Also a problem, this isn’t true.JUNE 24 2020: THIS SHITSHOW OF A WORK HAS BEEN EDITED!!! I FIXED SPELLING AND GRAMMAR ISSUES AS WELL AS LACK OF DESCRIPTION AND POINT OF VIEW.





	I Don’t Want This to End

**Author's Note:**

> Long ass one chapter! I was excited to write this, I hope you all enjoy!
> 
> \- What if...we fake dated...to prove to our friend that i’m not in love with her girlfriend...haha...jk...unless..?
> 
> bruh, as the summary says, i finally edited this and fuck I'm sorry to whoever read this before June 24 2020 okay it sucked so badly.

Lance rubbed his sweaty palms together as he attempted to think of how he was going to get himself out of this one —  _ this one _ being an argument with Romelle, where Romelle held more valid points to her argument than Lance did with his.

“Quit it, Lance,” Romelle groaned, “You know I love you, you’re one of my best friends, of course, I love you, but you’re still in love with my girlfriend, and while I know she doesn’t have feelings for you, I don’t enjoy having to think about you flirting with my girlfriend while I’m not there. I don’t want you near her for the time being, just until you’ve actually gotten over her, please respect this.”

Romelle had approached him in study hall a few minutes ago, and Lance was stunned, to say the least. She had accused him of being in love with Allura, and sure, he was once before, but that was years ago! He didn’t even know Romelle at that time! Lance knew this was Pidge’s fault, too. He doesn’t know how, but she probably opened her mouth about Lance being in love with Allura but left out the part where Lance got over her.

“Romelle, you’ve got it all wrong I don’t…” Lance had no clue on how to get her to believe him, “I mean..!” Lance was tripping over his words. There was no way to defend himself! Romelle would never believe him!

“Prove it, Lance!” Romelle exclaimed, getting increasingly upset. Lance watched her clench her fists, and he decided that sometimes, bad ideas can have good outcomes.

“Romelle, I have a boyfriend!” Lance shouted out.

Romelle’s face went blank, and then her jaw dropped, but, of course, she still needed a little more convincing. Lance already knew this, and he quickly put a flimsy storyline together in his head.

“We weren’t planning on telling the group until it got more serious, but it has been a few months now...” Lance trailed on, hoping that Romelle didn’t ask who he was talking about, because lance didn’t have a single guy who would pretend to be his boyfriend of a few months.

Romelle started to look even more intrigued, and Lance noticed that a few feet behind her, the library door opened and Keith walked in.

“Keith,” Lance mumbled to himself.

“What?” Romelle asked, since she already knew he said a name and assumed it was the name of his lover, “Who is it?”

Lance mentally facepalmed, “It’s Keith, we are  _ so happy together, _ ” he smiled.

Romelle believed him immediately, which frankly, confused Lance, “I knew you two liked each other! The looks you guys give each other, no one looks at their friend like that!” She exclaimed.

“Hey! Keith Kogane is not my friend!” Lance said out of habit, imminently noticing his mistake, “Cause he’s the love of my life, of course,” and right behind Romelle, was a confused Keith locking eyes with him, and then slowly backing up towards the door he just walked in. Keith quickly turned around and darted out of the library.

Lance’s eyes shot back to Romelle, and he then rushed to stand up, “So yeah! Don’t tell anyone else yet, but I’m supposed to be meeting Keith right now so I have to go!” He then ran as fast as he could to get to the library door, earning a glare from the librarian. Once in the hallway, Lance looked left and then right, he picked randomly and tried to listen for footsteps other than his own, and then suddenly he heard heavy breathing as he turned the corner; It was Keith.

Keith must have heard his panting because his head shot up, his eyes going wide as he quickly gathered his stuff and went running again.

“No!” Lane called out, also running, “Keith wait! Listen, man, I can explain!” Lance shouted after him.

Keith didn’t stop to look back, which confused Lance even more. The lie wast even that big of a deal, what was his problem? All they had to do was talk about it, maybe they could stage a breakup and be done with it.

As Lance got closer to Keith, he reached out in hopes of grabbing onto Keith’s jacket sleeve. Fortunately, he did. Unfortunately, Keith snatched his arm away, which sent Lance tumbling forward into him. They both fell, meaning Lance was now on top of Keith — a blushing Keith, who also had glossy eyes. Lance took note of that. 

So there he was, hovering and heaving over Keith, legs at his sides and, somehow, hands gripping his wrists, pinning Keith to the ground.

“Get the fuck off me, you asshole!” Keith yelled, struggling under Lance’s hold.

“I just want to talk!” Lance yelled back.

“And you have to fucking tackle me to do that?!” Keith accused.

“You were running!” Lance countered.

“You told Romelle we were dating! I don’t want to be a part of your shitshow, McClain!” Keith started, “Do you think it’s okay to lie about that stuff?!”

“What? Keith no, you’ve got it all wrong!” Lance promised.

“Oh, just like Romelle had it all wrong? What, do you actually still have feelings for Allura?” Keith scoffed, “Do you think it’s funny to fuck with other people’s feelings when it benefits you?” Keith asked as a tear rolled down his right cheek, which was only the start, seeing as the tears just kept coming 

Lance’s grip loosened, and he sat up a bit more. “Keith?”

“Just,” Keith squirmed out from under him and stood up, “Leave me alone, okay?”

Keith didn’t wait for an answer, he wiped his cheeks and walked away, not running because he knew Lance McClain seeing him cry was enough to leave him stunned.

Lance wanted to follow him, though, he really did, but he decided to give Keith time to cool off. Then, later on, he would have to get down on his knees and beg for his help. Lance also decided to never speak about that scene again, because if he did tell Hunk or Pidge, how was he supposed to explain that as Keith walked away, Lance’s face was blooming? Or that he clutched his heart and leaned against the wall for a good minute?

He knew how that would go down, too. He’d tell them it was because he was running, and they’d tell him it was because being on top of Keith Kogane as he cried  _ did  _ things to Lance; and Lance didn’t want to hear that, even if it was true.

  
  
  


A few hours later, Lance spotted Keith at lunch. He was reading a book with his earbuds in, no food in sight. Lance was a good distance away from him, so in his mind, there was no worry of Keith looking up and catching Lance staring at him.

Not that he was staring or anything, he was simply observing.

So without that worry, Lance sat silently at his own table with a few of his friends. He sat and looked at Keith, starting to ask himself things like, _ why isn’t he eating? _ or,  _ what is he reading?  _ Which turned into questions like,  _ has he always been this pretty?  _ and _ is that really Keith? _

These questions left his mind as soon as he saw Allura and Romelle sit down with Keith. Lance quickly fished for his phone, receiving looks from Hunk and Pidge.

  
  


**Lance McClain**

_ buddy! keith! my man! PLS GO IN THE FUCJING HALL I WILL MEET YOU OUT THERE PLS _

**Keith Kogane**

_ No. _

**Lance McClain**

_ I AM SO SORRY FOR EARLIER BUT I CAN’T LET YOU FUCK THINGD UO WITH ROMELLE _

At this point, Lance was typing too fast and desperately that typos were everywhere.

**Keith Kogane**

_ Let me fuck things up? Last time I checked, McClain, you got yourself into this mess, and yet I’m still the one who will, “fuck things up”? _

Lance realized his mistake and started typing even faster.

**Lance McClain**

_ keith no _

**Lance McClain**

_ man i didn’t mean it like that _

**Lance McClain**

_ it’s just _

**Lance McClain**

_ please go out in the hall thats all i ask _

It took a few seconds, but from across the lunchroom he could see Keith’s fingers hover over his phone screen, and the next text finally came in.

**Keith Kogane**

_ Library, be there in three minutes. _

Lance shot up from his seat and ran to the door of the lunchroom, yelling a  _ see you later! _ to Hunk and Pidge over his shoulder. As he made his way to the library his heart was pounding, and his face was already cherry red. He told himself it was the adrenaline. Lance picked a seat in the library that could be seen right when you opened the big door.

When Keith opened the door, earbuds in and book in hand, the first thing he saw was Lance shoot up out of his seat, sending the chair back a little. Keith’s eyebrows raised up, and he walked towards Lance.

“Somebody’s excited to see me,” Keith said with a blank face, keeping his eyes focused on the library table as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. He took his earbuds out and set his book down.

“Ha! As if!” Lance let out, which he didn’t mean to say, he really didn’t, but it was just a force of habit.

Lance could tell he had hurt Keith’s feelings because Keith was silently looking around the library like he was planning a way to make a run for it.

“Sorry, I’m just...nervous,” Lance spoke up.

Keith finally looked at him, “Why?”

“One slip-up with Romelle, and she’ll never let me within _ ten feet _ of Allura,” Lance started, “and it’s really not like  _ that _ , by the way. Allura is my friend, and she’s Hunk and Pidge’s friend, too. So if I fuck up, and it comes down to picking, everyone will pick Allura long before they pick me. If I pull this off, things will be normal and I won’t lose friends.”

Keith hummed, he didn’t know how to respond. He knew he wanted to say,  _ I would pick you, long before I picked Allura,  _ but he knew that’d just complicate things even more.

“Why did you lie to her?” Keith asked instead, “And why use me to support a lie like that?”

“She wanted me to stay away from Allura, like really stay away. We both know how much that could potentially fuck up our friend group, and I didn’t want to be the cause of that. I didn’t want to be the cause of yet another problem.”

“Lance, you’re not..” Keith started.

“Keith, I just started a problem between me and you, right after I started one with Romelle,” Lance answered, clenching his fists and squeezing his eyes shut.

A silence fell over them, Keith fumbled with his earbuds.

“Anyway, after that I tried to tell her she had gotten it all wrong, she told me to prove it. The only way I could come up with fast enough was already being in a relationship, so I just said I already had a boyfriend. Then you walked in, and I had to tell her who it was, so I said it was you. I told her we have been dating for a few months but didn’t want to tell anyone yet, but I’ll tell her it wasn’t true, and find a different way to fix this, I am so sorry, Keith. I get it if you don’t want to talk to me anymore.”

The clock on the wall near them ticked. Seconds passed, then a minute, and Keith finally spoke up.

“What’s our background story?”

“Huh?” Lance asked.

“You know, how did we get together, who confessed to who, when did your whole, _ Keith is my rival, grrrr,  _ phase end, stuff like that,” Keith shrugged, “So that we look legit.”

Lance was stunned, “You’re going to help me?”

“Yeah, of course,” Keith said with a smile as if saying  _ no  _ to this terrible plan wasn’t ever an option.

Lance stared at Keith for a moment, seeing that the library light made him look soft, “Okay! Let’s get started then!”

Lunch was to end in 10 minutes, so Keith agreed to meet with Lance after school. When Lance asked, _ your place or mine?  _ Keith responded with,  _ mine _ .

  
  


With the school day finally over, they both sat in Keith’s bedroom, with the door shut — Adam and Shiro were on a date since if they were here Keith would have been told, _the_ _door stays open! _and he would have kept it open, because honestly, Adam gets scary when disobeyed — It’s 10 pm, and they already decided Lance would sleepover.

“Okay!” Lance shouted, “Let’s go over this one more time!” he announced, even though this was the fifth  _ one more time! _

“Lance, I have it all down,” Keith said with an eyebrow raised.

“One more time!” Lance shouted again, this time with his hands clasped and a scary smile plastered on his face.

“Fine,” Keith sighed, “It is Friday, May eighth, we got our shit together three months ago on February seventeenth. I confessed to you, and you told me you felt the same. After that, we went on dates, but kept them a secret because we didn’t want to mess up our friend group.”

“Perfect! Now, we should rest up, we do have a mall date tomorrow, after all,” Lance said enthusiastically.

Keith snapped his head in Lance’s direction, “What are you talking about?” he felt as if his eyes were building out of his head.

Lance sat on the bed next to Keith, “With Romelle and Allura, to show I’m in love with you, and not Allura!” Lance gave him a look that said,  _ fuck, I really thought I already told you this. _

Keith looked away from Lance and mumbled a quick  _ oh _ . He then grabbed a blanket and a pillow, and said _ goodnight, McClain _ , after flashing him a quick smile. Keith then attempted to get comfortable on the floor beside his bed. Lance, who was sitting up on the bed, looked at him with his brows furrowed.

“Uh, what are you doing?” Lance asked.

Keith sat up slowly. “...going...to sleep..?”

“Aren’t you going to sleep on the bed?” Lance asked, before widening his eyes, “Oh! You don’t want to sleep in the same bed! Okay, that’s fine I’ll sleep on the ground, obviously.”

“What? No, you take the bed,” Keith argued.

This went back and forth for a few seconds until Keith got frustrated and stood up, blanket and pillow in hand, “Scoot, flat ass,” Keith mumbled.

Lance let out an overly dramatic gasp, putting his hand in his chest, “Flat  _ what?! _ ”

“Ass?” Keith repeated.

Lance let out a huff and flopped down onto the bed, now laying next to Keith. The bed was twin-sized, so it was a bit of a tight fit, but neither seemed to care. They were laying on their side, face to face. Then out of confidence, and a little confusion, Lance reached up to caress Keith’s cheek in his hand.

“You’re really pretty,” Lance whispered, mostly to himself.

“What?” Keith asked, his face going slightly red.

Lance leaned forward just a bit, and then the door opened. He jumped backward so quickly that his back hit the wall.

“Hey guys, me and Adam are back, just wanted to step in and say goodnight. Love you, Keith.” Shiro said, not aware of what he walked in on— what he stopped from happening.

Keith squeezed his eyes shut, “Yeah, love you too, Shiro. Tell Adam I said night.”

Shiro said a quick  _ will do _ , and walked out, shutting the door behind him. When Keith opened his eyes, Lance was on his other side, now facing the wall. Keith sighed. “Night, Lance.”

Lance didn’t answer, seeing as he had his hands folded over his mouth and his heart was beating too fast for him to simply say,  _ goodnight, Keith.  _ Saying goodnight to Keith would have been a lie, anyway, since it’s been two hours and Lance was  _ still awake.  _ He knew it was probably because of what he tried to pull earlier, though.

Lance flipped to his side to see a sleeping Keith, and then Lance reached out to tuck a piece of Keith’s hair behind his ear, letting out a sigh. Was he seriously going to develop feelings for Keith? Keith Kogane? 

Sure, he caught feelings pretty quickly, but it was usually after a girl in his class gave him a pencil, not after he almost impulsively kissed a boy while sharing their bed.

Keith’s eyes slowly opened, “Hey.”

“Oh, hey,” Lance was a tomato, and his voice had gotten slightly higher, “I didn’t realize you were up.”

“Why are  _ you _ up?” Keith asked quietly. Lance only heard him because of how close they were.

“Can’t sleep,” Lance answered shortly, he is tired, though.

Lance took one of Keith’s hands and started fumbling with it.

“You sound tired, Lance,” Keith said, his eyes fluttering shut.

“I am,” Lance admitted to him, watching as Keith took Lance’s hand in his, and pulled him to his chest.

“Then go to sleep,” Keith whispered, not realizing how intimate he was making this moment since he honestly just wanted to fall back asleep. After all, because he’s a light sleeper he was awakened when Lance moved his heir behind his ear.

Lance’s entire body was warm. Keith was on his side, with Lance’s face in his chest. Keith had his arms wrapped around Lance.

Lance fell asleep in a matter of minutes.

Keith was the first to wake up. He was now laying on his back, with Lance’s body cuddled close to him. Keith looked down at Lance, and he tried to act like it didn’t hurt — like he wasn’t in love with him; like he hasn’t been in love with him for years.

He was about to be his fake boyfriend, for crying out loud. What were they supposed to do after the mall date, keep doing it? Come clean? What if they got caught?

Keith looked at his bedside clock, 8:36 AM. Lance had told him sometime last night that he told Romelle they would be at the mall at 10:00 AM. Keith rolled onto his side and pulled Lance closer to him, trying to make the moment last forever.  _ How am I supposed to let go of having you like this? _

Shiro walked in, and he was going to say that breakfast was ready, but he stopped at the sight of Lance in Keith’s arms. Shiro slapped his hand over his own mouth and used his other to frantically motion Adam to join him in the doorway. Adam did, and he didn’t waste any time taking a picture of Keith and Lance. Keith flipped them off, seeing as he couldn’t do anything else because he didn’t want to wake Lance up in such a way. Shiro stuck his tongue out, and Adam whispered,  _ breakfast,  _ to which Keith just nodded.

Keith sat up slowly, and Lance wrapped his arms around his middle section and whined.

“Lance, come on, we gotta get up.”

“5 more minutes,” Lance mumbled.

Keith smiled down at him longingly, thinking he’d love to wake up this way every morning, “Shiro is expecting us, come on.”

Lance sat up slowly but still had his arms wrapped around Keith; their faces were close. Keith blushed and moved to swing his feet off the bed, making Lance whine again.

“You’re so warm,” Lance still had his eyes shut, “I’m gonna sleep over more often.”

Keith’s entire face was red, he quickly got up and motioned for Lance to do the same. Once he did, they walked downstairs together. Keith kept chanting  _ fake boyfriend  _ in his head, he then grabbed Lance’s arm as he was about to turn the hall into the kitchen, “Are we telling everyone we are dating? Or just Romelle and Allura?” he asked

Lance thought about it, “Everyone. We don’t want someone to tell Romelle that we aren’t dating.”

Keith sighed, he has to put on a show in front of  _ everyone  _ now? Great, really, just great! Lance seemed to notice the look of uneasiness on Keith’s face because he then said, “It’s okay though, you don’t even have to tell Shiro or Adam! Or anyone really! We can just do couple-y things for now on, and if anyone asks, we are dating!”

Keith started to name every single thing that could go wrong in his head, “But apparently we have been dating for  _ months _ , so why are we just now doing ‘couple-y’ things?”

“Cause we were keeping it a secret. People know you, you get shy! We can just say that we wanted to slowly show that we like each other,” Lance offered.

Keith decided to look over the, _ you get shy! _ part, thinking yeah, this could work, but then again, “And breaking up? How long is this going to go on for?” he asked.

Lance blanked, he didn’t even consider that. Hell, he didn’t think he’d get Keith to agree to fake dating!

“Well, just long enough to show Romelle I’m no threat to her relationship, I guess. We can say we broke up mutually. We shouldn’t have a big fight, we can just say we were better off as friends and didn’t want to be anything more.”

“Yeah.” Keith nodded, “Yeah, okay.”  _ This is fine,  _ he thought to himself,  _ I’m fine, everything is fine _ .

Lance started to walk again, he could smell the food and his stomach was practically screaming at him.

“But also,” Keith started, Lance turned around and groaned, “I have to tell Shiro. He’ll know something is up if I don’t.”

Lance smiled at him, it was genuine. “Okay, we’ll tell Shiro.”

They finally turned the corner, and Lance intertwined their hands. At this sight, Shiro raised an eyebrow and tapped Adam without looking away.

“Well, what’s this?” Shiro said, rubbing his hands together and then pointing at their hands.

Keith flushed, “Shiro, Adam, me and Lance are,” Keith paused and closed his eyes. “dating.”

Adam stood from his seat at the table, “Finally!” he exclaimed, walking to get plates for everyone. Keith guided Lance to the table and they each took a seat.

“So, how did it happen?” Shiro asked. Keith tuned them out as Lance answered for him.

Keith’s leg was going nuts under the table, he knew they couldn’t possibly know that they aren’t really dating, he knows, but fuck was he a nervous wreck. Lance put his hand on Keith’s thigh to steady it, and when Keith turned to look at him, Lance mouthed,  _ it’s okay. _

“Lance, did you know,” Adam sat down with the plates and looked at Keith with a smirk, “When you guys were younger, Keith would call family meetings to talk about you?” Keith’s eyes went wide, “Gosh, Takashi and I were only dating then, and it was just so adorable. He still talks about you a lot. He really does like you.”

Keith avoided Lance’s gaze, afraid Lance would be looking at him with disgust and that as soon as they left Lance would tell him they didn’t need to do this anymore, and he would figure out what to tell Romelle on his own — but Lance wasn’t. Lance was looking at him with a soft smile, and the only look on his face was  _ awe.  _ Lance was in awe.

The room fell silent as Adam started dishing out breakfast to everyone.

“Oh! Lance,” Shiro started, and Keith silently begged Shiro to not tell him any more embarrassing things, “While you two are at the mall today, please try and get Keith to buy some clothes. I’ll even give you some money! Make him try them on too, he never does it with me, and his wardrobe is just hideous.”

Keith rolled his eyes, watching as Lance smiled at Shiro, “Will do!” Lance said cheerfully.

The rest of breakfast went smoothly. Shiro and Adam just took turns telling stories about Keith or talking about their own relationship. It showed how truly happy they were for Keith and Lance.

It made Keith feel bad for lying to them — almost as bad as it felt to actually go along with this.

When the time came, the two went back upstairs and got ready. Lance had come prepared with a bag so that he didn’t have to stop at home. Soon, they were in Shiro’s car on the way to the mall because,  _ we are not taking a fucking motorcycle, Keith! _ Shiro was happy to let them use his car, just as long as Keith drove. They were about 15 minutes away from the mall.

“So,” Lance started after they had pulled out of Keith’s driveway, “family meetings?”

Keith inwardly groaned, and he was happy that he was driving because that meant he didn’t have to make eye contact with Lance during this horrid conversation.

Keith put on a tight smile. “Let’s leave that talk for another time.”

Lance was about to press the subject, but he saw how uncomfortable Keith looked, so he dropped it. Instead, he brought up how _ it is completely outrageous that you think Mothman is real, or that you even find it interesting.  _ Keith spent the rest of the car ride spilling facts, sightings, and many other things about Mothman. Lance just watched him with a smile on his face.

When they arrived at the mall, Lance texted Romelle. She told him that they were in a store called Starry Night, so Keith and Lance entered the mall and looked for a map. Once they figured out where they were going, they began walking. Lance suggested that they hold hands, in case Allura and Romelle see them.

They saw the store ahead and walked a bit faster, Allura and Romelle were standing right outside of the entrance. Apparently, Starry Night sold things like telescopes, glow in the dark space stickers, and all sorts of lights that could be hung in rooms.

Lance turned to look at Keith, seeing that he looked amazed. “Do you wanna get something?”

Keith slightly jumped, “Huh? No, no it’s okay.”

Lance frowned at this. “Come on! Pick something!”

He still looked timid, but the encouragement from Lance seemed to help. Keith started to walk into the store, slowly pulling Lance by the hand; Allura and Romelle followed.

Lance looked at Keith, and he just couldn’t look away. Keith’s eyes were sparkling as he lifted his hand to pick up a box. The object was round, sort of like a disco ball, and the picture on the box showed a ceiling with stars and constellations displayed all over it. The round-ish object sat on the ground, and yeah, it wasn’t exactly real, but to have that in your bedroom every night? That would be amazing! Keith was just as in love with the idea as Lance was, probably even more.

Lance smiled at Keith and squeezed his hand for a second, “Do you want to get it?” Allura and Romelle were already at the counter buying fairy lights.

Keith turned the box over to look at the price stamp,  _ forty-five dollars. _

“No. It’s okay,” Keith shook his head.

Lance frowned again, deciding to take the box from Keith, letting go of his hands. Romelle and Allura were making their way back towards them.

“Lance, what are you-“ Keith wasn’t able to finish his sentence, because Lance was already at the counter.

The employee smiled at Lance, “Is this all for you today, sir?”

“Yes, it is.” Lance smiled back, opening his wallet to pull out a card.

After the exchange, Lance walks away with a bag and says a quick “Have a good day!” to the employee.

Keith crosses his arms, “Lance.”

“Yes, darling?” Lance crouched slightly to look at Keith directly in the eye.

Keith turned slightly red and tightened his jaw, “Why did you buy that?”

“Well for you, of course! My beautiful, wonderful, and deserving boyfriend!” Lance’s smile grew.

Keith flushed and held out his hand for Lance to hold, “Thank you,” He mumbled.

Lance ignored Keith’s hand and went to hug him from behind, putting his face into Keith’s neck, whispering,  _ you are totally letting me sleepover next weekend, we gotta use this.  _ Allura and Romelle stood across from them, hand in hand, smiling at the sight.

“Okay! How about some clothes now?” Allura asked.

Lance’s head shot up and Keith’s eyes widened. While Lance let out an excited  _ Yes _ ! Keith quietly said  _ oh no _ , and held onto Lance’s hands, which were on his stomach.

They all started to walk towards clothing stores until Allura stopped in her tracks and pointed at one, “There! Come on!”

Romelle walked with her, with Keith and Lance following behind them; both couples holding hands.

Once they were in the store, they lost Romelle and Allura. So, Lance took Keith over to some clothes, and they both started looking. 

Well, Lance started looking. Keith stood beside him nervously and pretended to be looking through clothes.

A few minutes later, Lance had a pile of clothes in his arms, “Okay! To the fitting rooms!” he said to Keith excitedly. 

Keith’s head snapped over to him as Lance grabbed his hand, “I don’t need to be in the room while you try on clothes?”

“Silly, these are for you!” Lance laughed, pulling him to the dressing rooms.

The color from Keith’s face drained, he hated trying on clothes. Having to stand there, and just look at himself in the mirror. He always had Shiro pick him up simple clothing from local stores.

“Hey, it’ll be okay. I picked things you’ll look great in! Plus, if you’re worried about me being in the room, I’ll stand outside.”

Keith nodded, but once they were at the dressing rooms, he motioned for Lance to walk in with him. Lance set the clothes down and sat in the white chair that was put in the room.

“Okay! First, try these pants,” Lance held out a pair of black jeans with small rips on the knees, “and this shirt,” he then held out a red v-neck.

Keith held both of the clothing items in his hands and looked around the room nervously. “Uh, I’ll just, I mean..”

“Keith, I’m not going to watch you, just tell me when you’re done,” Lance then stood up and turned around so that he couldn’t see Keith. After that, Keith set the clothes on the stool next to him and undressed.

“I’m done,” Keith announced a few moments later, Lance turned around.

“Wow! You look great!” Lance beamed at him.

“You really think so?” Keith looked at the ground.

“Of course I do! How could you not?”

“I don’t know,” Keith mumbled.

“Well, you do. You look really, really great. Next outfit!”

\

They tried on a few more outfits, and when Lance thought that something didn’t look good on Keith he said, _ now, you, you look fucking amazing, but this outfit? It just throws off your amazing looks. It doesn’t fit you like I hoped it would, but it’s okay! Cause it’s the outfit, not you, you gorgeous being. _

Every time Lance said it, Keith laughed and rolled his eyes. 

By the time they were done, they had about 5 successful outfits for Keith and a few different shirts, jackets, and beanies. As they walked out with the clothes they were buying for Keith, they saw Allura and Romelle looking at rings with a bag of clothes in their hands. Allura looked up and nudged Romelle.

“Over here, guys!” Romelle said, smiling.

Lance turned to Keith, “I’ll go pay, and don’t worry about me using my money, cause Shiro gave me a  _ concerning _ amount of money.” He then walked away, leaving Keith to go over with Allura and Romelle.

“Hey guys, what are you doing?” Keith asked.

Allura glowed, “We are getting matching rings. You know, girlfriend shit,” Romelle bumped her and laughed, kissing her on the cheek.

“Oh! You and Lance should get something too!” Romelle said, full of excitement.

“Uh, maybe at the next store? I don’t think he’s big on rings,” Keith made an excuse.

Lance approached them, bag in hand, and he took Keith’s hand, “Ready to go?”

“Yeah, ‘Lura and I just wanna get these rings real quick. We will meet you out there!” Romelle tells him.

Lance and Keith then walked out of the store and leaned against the wall. Lance pulled out his phone and opened the weather app.

“Damn,” Lance says, still looking at his phone.

“What?” Keith looked up at him.

“It’s snowing out right now. Not too bad, and it should be done soon, but it must be fucking freezing,” Lance informed him.

Keith left his jacket in the car, and he wasn’t going to admit it,  _ but fuck it’s cold in this mall!  _ Keith was wearing a short-sleeved shirt, while Lance was wearing his hoodie with a long-sleeved shirt underneath.

Lance looked over at Keith after putting his phone in his pocket and saw that Keith was shivering. He then put the bags on the ground and took off his sweatshirt, holding it out to Keith, “Here, you’re cold.”

Keith opened his mouth to protest, but the sound of Allura saying,  _ aw! _ quickly shut him up. Keith took the sweatshirt and put it on. The sleeves covered his hands, and the hem of the sweatshirt went down to the middle of his thigh. Lance picked up the bags and grabbed Keith’s hand.

“Oh! Guys let’s go to Azure! They have great clothes!” Romelle said.

Lance turned to Keith and whispered, “Don’t worry, you don’t need to get anything else,” Keith smiled at him, happy that Lance didn’t even need to look at him to tell he was afraid.

As they walked, Lance let go of Keith’s hand. At this, Keith looked up at him, but as he did Lance wrapped his arm around Keith’s shoulder and pulled him closer to him.

Keith was a smiling mess.

He probably felt the need to explain this change, because Lance then whispered in Keith’s ear,  _ my hand was getting sweaty. _

A few seconds later, Allura and a Romelle turned into a store, so Lance and Keith followed. Keith decided that he would hold his bags so that Lance could look through clothes. Once Lance had enough clothes to try on, he motioned for Keith to follow him to the fitting room. They found a nice one, and Keith sat down on the bench next to Lance’s pile of clothing. Then, Lance started to strip.

“Oh!” Keith quickly turned away.

“You don’t have to turn around or anything, I’m fine,” Lance laughed.

Keith slowly turned back around, and when he did Lance had just started to put on a shirt. So, Keith just sat in the chair and watched him, he was in a daze.

“Like what you see, Kogane?” Lance smirked, he had a shirt on, but still no pants.

“Stupid,” Keith mumbled, pulling out his phone.

**FAMILY GROUP CHAT**

**Keith**

_ Shiwowooowo _

**Keith**

_ Adamaamamam _

**Takashit**

_ Oh gosh, Adam, he’s having a gay panic _

**Four eyes**

_ ffs, Keith, he’s your boyfriend now! _

**Takashit**

_ Yeah, Keith stop being so gay. _

**Keith**

_ When Adam confessed to you, you ran all the way home without saying a single word to him. You left your fucking car. _

**Takashit**

_ Touché, little brother, tou-fucking-ché. _

**Keith**

_ He’s just so hot _

**Keith**

_ And I like him so much  _

**Keith**

_ And I never want this to end _

**Four eyes**

_ Keith, from what I saw this morning, he really likes you too, and it doesn’t look like he’s planning on leaving you anytime soon _ .

**Keith**

_ but _

**Takashit**

Stop worrying over nothing, you like him, he likes you, and you’re dating. Now have fun at the mall! We love you!

**Keith**

_ Fine, love you too, guys. _

Only Keith couldn’t tell them it would end because it’s not real. For Keith, something this good would never be real.

“Hey, Keith?” Lance asked, and Keith put his phone away, “How does this look on me? I’m not sure if I look that good.”

As he looked up, Keith’s eyes widened, and he was sure that he would be drooling in the next few seconds, “You look amazing!” Keith coughed, “I mean, yeah. Yeah, you look great, Lance. You should get it.”

Lance smiled brightly and moved onto the next outfit, occasionally asking Keith for his opinion. Once they were finished, Lance took the clothes he was getting while Keith put the unwanted clothes in the basket outside of the door.

Lance went to pay, but something caught Keith’s eye. Something beautiful, or at least he thinks so. Keith grabbed Lance’s hand to stop him.

“What’s up?” Lance asked, turning around but not letting go of Keith’s hand.

“This ring, it’s pretty, and there’s a matching one” Keith was hoping Lance would catch on, “Allura and Romelle said we should get some since they did too.”

“I don’t really wear rings,” Keith’s heart dropped, “but we could buy those chains, and put the rings on it? Like a necklace?”

Lance looked at him and smiled, he almost looked nervous.

“Yes!” Keith was overly excited. He grabbed the chains, then the rings. One was red, the other blue, and they each had a gold outline. They were simple band rings, and the gold obviously wasn’t real, but Keith loved them.

Keith followed Lance into line and had to fight off the urge to jump up and down. Keith told Lance he was going to go wait outside with Romelle and Allura to tell them about the rings.

“Is that your boyfriend?” the cashier asked as Keith walked off.

“Ha, yeah. How’d you know?” Lance asked.

“Well, the matching rings, but mostly the way he looks at you, and the way you look at him.”

“What do you mean?” Lance smiled politely.

“Well, he looks at you like he’s a lovesick puppy, for one, and you look at him like he’s the only person in the world,” The cashier paused and smiled, “but hey, I’m just some stranger. What would I know?”

Lance stood silently with his mouth slightly agape. He turned to look at Keith, who was talking to Allura and Romelle with a huge smile on his face. 

When the cashier finished scanning all of Lance’s items, he handed Lance the bag and said “Have a good one!” with a bright smile, as if he didn’t just make Lance question if he really  _ was _ falling for Keith.

“Yeah, you too,” Lance muttered.

Once Lance exited the store, Allura clapped her hands once, “Okay, guys! I say we go get a bite to eat at the food court, and then see a movie at the theater across the street. Sound good?”

Everyone nodded collectively, and then they made their way to the food court. When they found a table, everyone sat down and put their bags on the ground next to the table. Keith sat across from Lance, and next to Allura. Romelle was across from Allura, and next to Lance.

Lance reached for one of his bags, and then dug out the rings and chains. With everyone watching him, he opened the chains and rings, then put a ring on each chain and handed Keith his necklace with the blue ring hanging off of it.

Keith took it, “I get the blue one?” he asked.

“Yeah, you get mine, I get yours,” Lance stood up, “I’m gonna go get food.”

“Oh, I’ll come with you,” Keith said, also standing up.

“No, no. It’s fine, I’ll get your food for you. Your usual right? From Wampum?” 

Keith looked surprised, then smiled, and sat back down. He could feel Romelle and Allura watching them, so Keith looked at Lance and started tapping his lips to say,  _ kiss me, dummy! Make us look real! _ But to Romelle and Allura, it simply showed he was thinking.

While still tapping his lips, Keith hums and says, “Okay, thanks. Can you get me a lemonade with it, too?”

“Yeah, of course,” Lance watched as Keith squeezed his bottom lip and widened his eyes a little, trying harder to get his message across. A quick look of surprise crossed Lance’s face, but then he leaned down and gave Keith a quick kiss on the lips.

“I’ll be right back,  _ mi amor, _ ” Lance smiled and walked away, his heart got faster as he walked away.

“Hey, Lura? I’m gonna go get something from the new place, you want anything?”

Allura looked up. “Oh! Surprise me, okay? We can share a drink.”

Romelle smiled, “Okay hon, I’ll be back.” They gave each other a quick kiss and Romelle walked away.

“So,” Allura turned to Keith with a smirk “How far have you and Loverboy gone?” she raised her left eyebrow, “Have you done it?”

“Allura!” Keith flushed.

“Joking! Joking!” Allura laughed, “But even so, I’m taking that as you haven’t done it.”

Keith agreed with her, he didn’t really know what to do. Lance didn’t talk about how to answer this question.

Allura shrugged, “You’ll get there, I’m sure.”

Keith nodded and tried to look for Lance, just in case he was walking over with their food.

“You know,” Keith turned back towards Allura, “He looks much happier when he’s with you. I can tell a fake smile from a real one, and he always has a real one with you. Any other time... he doesn’t. He fakes it, probably so we don’t worry about him.”

Keith furrowed his eyebrows, Allura kept speaking, “But we do. Gosh, we do. He doesn’t know how much we love him. The poor boy thought we were going to abandon him when he came out to us! Ro and I are literally  _ two girls  _ dating, and he thought we would be homophobic towards him!”

Keith frowned, “You should hang out with us more, Keith. He’s really happy with you around.”

With that, Lance arrived back at the table. “Okay, babe, here’s your food, and,” He bowed in front of Keith, “your lemonade,” he winked.

Keith giggled, _ he giggled, _ “Thank you, loverboy.”

Lance laughed with him and sat in his seat, pulling his food from the bag. He didn’t get himself a drink, so he just took sips from Keith’s lemonade every now and then. A few minutes later, Romelle was back at the table with her and Allura’s food.

They all chatted while eating their food, and to Keith’s surprise, he felt comfortable. Social situations like this usually made him feel uneasy and anxious, but right now he felt amazing.

Keith looked up in front of him to look at Lance, who was already looking at him with a smile on his face. Keith smiled one of his brightest smiles back at Lance.

Keith started talking a lot more when Romelle asked, “You like space, Keith?”

As he did, Lance started to think back to all the moments at the garrison, when they were little. He thought back to middle school, and back to the three years of high school they had already finished together. He thought about all the times he complained about Keith — all the times he wrote about Keith in his diary, all the times he brought Keith up into any conversation he possibly could.

Lance looked up at Keith again, and he couldn’t look away. Keith was still going into deep detail about space.

Lance thought he was beautiful, absolutely beautiful.

  
  
  


Once they finished eating, they agreed that they would take all their bags to their cars, and then meet at the entrance of the movie theater. As they walked into the parking lot together, Lance and Keith held hands; Romelle and Allura did the same.

After a minute or so, Romelle and Allura parted ways with Lance and Keith, since they parked in a different section, but all the way to the car, Lance held Keith’s hand. Even when they both knew Romelle and Allura were out of their line of sight, and would never know if they let go of the other's hand, they held onto each other and smiled. Neither of them talked, it was a comfortable silence all the way to the car.

They saw Romelle and Allura standing in front of the theater, right next to the doors. They were… making out. Keith’s eyes widened, and Lance coughed loudly as he approached them.

“Oh, hey,” Romelle said flatly.

Allura then looked at Lance and Keith, “Don’t give us that look! I’m sure you two make out any chance you get!”

Lance and Keith both blushed. Lance started to make his way to the doors and shouted a, _ you know it baby, _ in response to Allura’s comment. Keith followed Lance into the building, both Romelle and Allura trailing behind them.

They all decided on a movie and got snacks and drinks to share. The seats at their movie theater reclined, and you could move the cup holder up to remove the divider between you and the person next to you. Both couples put the cup holder up and cuddle with their partner; Keith and Lance did it without wondering if they should do it to prove to Romelle they’re dating, though. 

The big television screen in front of them lit up, and previews to other movies started playing. So far, there was still no one else in the theater. Keith closed his eyes and cuddled further into Lance. _ It can’t get any better than this,  _ he thought.

About 5 minutes later, the movie had started, and Keith was already drifting into sleep, desperately trying to keep himself awake. The movie was about two hours long, and they were only three minutes in.

Half an hour passed, and he felt Lance move from under him. He picked up his head sleepily in confusion.

“I have to use the bathroom,” Lance smiled at him.

Keith mumbled an  _ okay, sharpshooter,  _ and tried to get comfortable without the warmth of Lance’s body under him.

Lance pulled out his phone as soon as he exited the movie theater and called Hunk. He walked as fast as he could to the bathroom, even though he had no need to use it.

“Hey man! Aren’t you watching a movie right now?” Hunk asked.

“Yeah! Uh, here’s the thing though!” Then, Lance spilled the beans. He told Hunk how he and Keith were fake dating, and why they were doing so.

“Hunk, something is happening inside of me,” Lance leaned against a wall and waved his hands around.

The other end of the line was silent as Lance panicked quietly.

Then, Hunk spoke up, “Uh, like, feelings?”

Lance snapped and started walking around the bathroom, “Yes! Those! Gosh, I gotta get rid of those.”

“Lance, no!” Hunk exclaimed.

“Lance, yes!” Lance mocked Hunk, “I can’t start feeling something for Keith!”

Hunk sighed, “Lance, I think your crush on Keith started way before now.”

“What are you talking about, Hunk?” Lance asked, venom lacing his tongue.

“Lance! The garrison! He was all you talked about, all you thought about, you  _ wrote _ about him in your journal!” Hunk exclaimed.

“Yeah, because he was my rival!” Lance answered as if it was obvious.

“Writing about someone’s gorgeous eyes and alluring smile is a crush, not a rival!” Hunk groaned.

“Whatever, Hunk! I so do not have a crush on Keith Kogane!” Lance hung up, fixing his hair in the bathroom mirror, a wave of newfound anger filling his body from head to toe. He entered the movie theater to see Keith laying in their spot, eyes barely managing to stay open.

Lance smiled and made his way to the seat, Keith looked at him and sat up, making room for Lance.

Once Keith was lying comfortably on Lance, Lance whispered into Keith’s ear, “Go to sleep, Hermoso.”

Keith was soon asleep, and Lance’s anger had faded away rather quickly. Lance looked over at Romelle and Allura, they were invested in the movie. Lance pulled out his phone, typing out a text to Hunk.

**Lance**

_ I so do have a crush on keith kogane. _

After the movie, they all said their goodbyes and headed home. It was about 2:10 PM when they got into the car.

“So? Did you have fun?” Lance turned to Keith.

Keith smiled, “Yeah, actually, I really did.”

Lance smiled back at him, starting to say something more just as Keith did. They decided Keith would go first.

He took a deep breath in, “I don’t want this to end, Lance,” his voice was shaking.

Lance stared him right in the eye, “What?”

“This, Lance. Me and you, fake or not, I can’t just let go of it. I,” he looked down at his clenched fists in his lap, “I have feelings for you. I have for a long time.”

Silence wavered over them. 

“Nevermind, I’ll drive you to my place to get your stuff and then I can take you home, we can act like this never happened. I’ll take care of Romelle and Allura. Just,” Keith paused, “forget I said anything, okay?”

Lance didn’t answer, he only stared out the window. Truth is, he hadn’t thought this far ahead. He thought that he would always have a huge crush on Keith and that it would forever be unrequited. So, in reality, he just didn’t know what to say to Keith. What he wanted to do was grab him by the back of his neck and kiss him, but Keith was already driving. They both stayed silent for the entire car ride, and when they pulled into Keith’s driveway, they both walked up to Keith’s room silently, and when they walked in, Lance shut the door.

“Why are you shutting the door? I’m taking you home,” Keith walked over to the door to open it, and from behind him, Lance held his palm on the door, keeping it from opening.

Keith turned around, now looking right up into Lance’s eyes. “What are you..?”

“Shut up, mullet,” Lance held Keith’s face in his hands and kissed him — kissed him like he was going to lose him at any second; kissed him differently than any person he’s ever kissed. 

— Because Keith is different, he’s better.

Lance slowly pulled away. “Gosh, Kogane. Just can’t keep your hands off me, huh?” he smirked.

“What? You kissed m-“ Keith was interrupted by another kiss from Lance.

“Nope,” Lance said as he pulled away for the second time, “don’t remember, didn’t happen,” Lance smiled at him.

Lance then flopped down on Keith’s bed, motioning for Keith to join him.

“So,” Keith started.

“Yes, Keith, we are boyfriends now, for real.”

Keith smiled and jumped onto him. They kissed for hours, and Lance stayed for dinner, and then Keith drove him home on his motorcycle even after Lance protested against it.

They were happy.

**Author's Note:**

> kudos and comments are always appreciated ♡


End file.
